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Norbert vs Norvell

American parents have registered 20,385 Norberts since 1880, against 1,275 Norvells. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Norbert against Norvell, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Norbert Norvell

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Norbert has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1885 to 2024. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2012, when Norbert had 7 and Norvell had 6.

Side by side

  Norbert Norvell
Total US births 20,3851,275
Most in one year 63527
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 5,300570
Median age today 6862
Peak year 19241941
Best rank 212th boys1,276th boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18851905
Girls / boys 6 / 20,379117 / 1,158

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Norberts alive today are over 68; half the Norvells are over 62. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Norbert and Norvell.